Cuomo urged to sign firefighter protection law

by jmaloni

Submitted

Tue, Dec 17th 2013 09:55 am

Niagara lawmaker urges action by governor to
sign Grisanti bill

by Christian W. Peck

Public Information Officer

Niagara County Public Information Office

When Niagara County
lawmakers meet Tuesday, they will receive copies of a letter Legislator Michael
A. Hill, R-Middleport, sent to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo late last week urging him
to sign a bill to protect volunteer firefighters from being fired because of
commitments to their communities.

If Cuomo fails to sign
the bill into law by midnight Wednesday, it will die, despite widespread
bipartisan support in the Senate and Assembly - as well as urgent lobbying by
FASNY, the Firefighters Association of the State of New York.

Hill's letter to
Cuomo, drafted with the encouragement and input of several Majority Caucus
colleagues, calls on the governor to sign the proposed law, which was drafted
by Sen. Mark J. Grisanti, R-Buffalo, and passed both houses of the State
Legislature by wide margins. The Grisanti firefighter leave bill was drafted
amid concern volunteer firefighters and EMTs faced employment discrimination
during long-term call-ups to respond to local emergencies and disasters.

Hill released a copy
of his letter to Cuomo to the media earlier today.

Prompting the push for
the firefighter leave of absence bill is the fact that, under existing law, employers
may force a volunteer firefighter or EMT they employ to use vacation or sick
time, require them to forfeit pay, and even terminate them for failing to
report to work during a call-up. The Grisanti bill seeks to protect employers'
interests by requiring firefights to present proof of their call-up while
forbidding punitive measures by employers under such circumstances.

"No one out protecting
his or her neighbors should have to worry about losing a job because they did
the right thing, and took on the burdens of citizenship," Hill wrote Cuomo. "When
a disaster strikes, it is these volunteers to whom our communities turn."

Hill, a former
volunteer firefighter himself, noted many smaller municipalities and rural
communities are forced to rely on volunteer firefighters and paramedics because
of what he termed the "prohibitive costs" of maintaining large paid
professional firefighting and police forces.

Hill also noted federal
law requires employers to honor the commitments of citizen soldiers in the
National Guard and Reserve, and that in emergency situations it's not uncommon
to see volunteer firefighters and EMTs serving alongside National Guard
personnel to mount a response.

"(It) is illegal for
employers to require members of the military's Reserve Component to use
vacation or sick time while on an Active Duty deployment," Hill wrote Cuomo.
"As a county legislator, but more importantly, as a former volunteer
firefighter myself, I am asking you to extend similar protections to volunteer
firefighters and EMTs, who are called up for short-term activations."

Hill noted business
advocates in Albany had been urging Cuomo to disregard to veto the Grisanti
bill because of the potential costs to business. The Middleport lawmaker, who
has long been a strong advocate for business and the private sector, said those
lobbying efforts didn't square with his conversations with many business owners
in his district.

"I know many of the
small business owners I interact with daily support this bill because they understand
that volunteer fire companies help keep their local taxes down - and that
supporting volunteer firefighters and EMTs who have been called up in an
emergency or disaster is, quite simply, the right thing to do," Hill wrote.

While Hill's letter to
Cuomo was cordial, he noted that he and several of his colleagues were watching
the governor closely on this issue - particularly in light of the time
restraints impacting the bill.

"The Majority Caucus
members I've spoken to are all in favor of this law, but we declined to place a
resolution urging action by the governor on Tuesday's agenda because we were
concerned that, even if we passed it Tuesday night, our correspondence couldn't
reach Albany in time," Hill explained. "I've found the governor to be open to
listening to us on issues of this nature in the past, and I'm hoping he'll do
the right thing and sign Sen. Grisanti's bill into law."

The bill, S.1604, was
sent to Cuomo by state lawmakers Dec. 6.

According to a release
from FASNY President James Burns that urged Cuomo to sign the bill, "in the
past two years, 600 of the state's 1,800 volunteer departments were deployed to
other parts of the state for disaster mutual aid. More than 80 percent of New
York state is covered by volunteer first responders, and FASNY said the threat
of job loss may keep some volunteers from responding."